Michigan sports betting win plunges in June
Online sports betting revenues in Michigan fell 10% in June, a J.P. Morgan earnings release shows, despite an 11% hold and a 20% spike in bets placed.
Win was US$41 million on handle of US$373 million. A year-over-year increase in promotional outlays to 5.4% of handle may have played a role in the revenue drop. Bet365’s handle was 22% promotional play, bringing the Wolverine State’s average up.
Although FanDuel’s revenue plummeted 25% to US$14 million, it was the statewide leader. It took US$111.8 million in wagers.
Next up was DraftKings, with handle of US$105.7 million and win of US$10.9 million, a 17% drop-off. BetMGM saw US$42.5 million of wagering transformed into revenue of US$5.3 million, down 7%.
TheScore Bet, which launched in December, took US$13.8 million in action, resulting in win of US$1 million. Even newer, having launched in mid-April, Bet365 made US$3.8 million from US$26 million in handle.
Fanatics Sportsbook saw revenue tumble 30% to US$2.8 million from handle on the order of US$34.6 million. BetRivers’ revenue experienced a 48% collapse, coming in at US$400,000 from handle of US$5.1 million. All other operators combined for US$1.7 million in win from US$16.5 million in handle.
Grosses from igaming were much more favorable for operators, up 25% to an aggregate of US$301.2 million. FanDuel led all comers with US$72.1 million, rising 13%.
BetMGM’s take increased 10% to US$66.3 million. DraftKings was up 5% to US$52.1 million. Caesars Palace Online rose a point to US$18.1 million.
The only major operator to be revenue-negative was Hollywood Casino, down 4% to US$7.2 million. BetRivers spiked 29% to reach US$23.2 million. All remaining operators were up 20% overall to achieve US$13.5 million between them.
David McKee is an award-winning journalist who has three decades of experience covering the gaming industry.
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The Backstory
June exposed the volatility behind Michigan’s betting growth
Michigan’s June sports betting results underscored a central tension in the state’s online gambling market: Wagering volume can rise while operator revenue falls. The month’s figures showed online sports betting win dropped 10% even as handle rose 20%, a split that points to the pressure from customer acquisition costs, pricing and promotional play in a maturing market.
The decline followed a strong May, when Michigan’s online sports betting win rose 51% to $77.5 million on an 18% increase in handle. That month’s 16.7% hold was unusually favorable to operators and helped make the June retreat appear sharper. The May result was also distorted by the arrival of Bet365, whose heavy promotional spending rapidly pushed it into the upper tier of the market. In May, Bet365 accounted for 14% of handle, with 57% of that tied to promotional play, according to Complete iGaming’s report on Michigan’s May betting surge.
By June, the same dynamics were visible in a different form. Handle remained elevated but win weakened, suggesting operators were still buying share even as the sports calendar softened. Promotional outlays rose to 5.4% of handle, with Bet365’s mix again pushing the statewide average higher. That helped explain why more betting activity did not translate into more revenue.
Bet365’s entry changed the competitive math
Michigan had been a relatively stable online sports betting market, dominated by FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM. Bet365’s mid-April launch altered that balance by injecting a new source of aggressive promotional spending. The company’s strategy was not unusual for a new entrant, but the scale was meaningful enough to affect statewide metrics within weeks.
In May, Bet365 nearly doubled its April revenue and moved into third place, displacing BetMGM. Its impact was clearest in the counterfactual: Without Bet365, Michigan’s May handle would have risen just 1%, and promotional outlays would have been 3.8% of handle rather than 11.5%. That made the headline growth less a broad market acceleration than a competitive land grab by a new operator.
June showed the cost of that shift. FanDuel remained the revenue leader but its sports betting win fell 25%. DraftKings’ revenue declined 17%, while BetMGM dropped 7%. Fanatics and BetRivers posted even steeper declines. Those numbers suggest the larger operators absorbed both normal month-to-month sports betting variance and a more crowded promotional environment.
The lesson is that market share battles can inflate handle while compressing profitability. A sportsbook can take more wagers, offer more incentives and still produce lower win if customers perform well, promotions are elevated or hold normalizes after a strong month. Michigan’s June results reflected all three risks.
iGaming continued to carry the broader online market
The contrast with internet casino was stark. While sports betting revenue fell, Michigan iGaming gross revenue rose 25% to $301.2 million. FanDuel led the segment with $72.1 million, followed by BetMGM at $66.3 million and DraftKings at $52.1 million. BetRivers, which struggled in sports betting, posted a 29% iGaming increase to $23.2 million.
That divergence has become one of the defining features of Michigan’s online gambling market. Sports betting is high-profile and sensitive to seasonality, hold and promotions. Online casino is steadier, higher-margin and more important to state tax collections. Earlier June data from the Michigan Gaming Control Board showed adjusted gross receipts of $256.5 million for online operators, including $226 million from iGaming, according to Complete iGaming’s coverage of Michigan’s June iGaming results. The regulator also reported the figures on its site in a June 2025 iGaming revenue release.
The tax implications are significant. Online operators submitted $48.9 million in state taxes and payments in June, with iGaming accounting for $47.1 million and sports betting $1.8 million. That gap shows why casino-style digital gambling has become the fiscal anchor for Michigan, even when sports betting dominates marketing and consumer attention.
For operators, the split also matters. Sportsbooks can serve as customer funnels into more profitable iGaming products, but that strategy depends on the ability to cross-sell users and control promotional spending. If sports betting becomes a costly acquisition channel, the economics shift toward operators with stronger casino platforms and more efficient marketing databases.
Other states show the pressure points
Michigan is not alone in showing that handle growth does not guarantee revenue growth. In Oregon, DraftKings’ February online sports betting revenue fell 25.6% from the prior year even as handle rose 3.4% to $70.6 million. The company, the state’s sole online sportsbook, still held 10.2%, but lower hold compared with the prior year drove revenue down. Complete iGaming’s report on DraftKings’ Oregon revenue decline showed how parlays supported win while single bets held at just 3.8%.
That example is relevant for Michigan because it separates betting demand from sportsbook earnings. Consumer wagering can increase while the house keeps less of each dollar. The mix of bet types matters. Parlays tend to hold better for operators, while straight bets can be more efficient for experienced bettors. A month with more customer-friendly outcomes or a shift toward lower-hold products can quickly reduce operator win.
Illinois highlights a different risk: policy intervention. After the state added a per-wager tax and major operators passed costs to customers through fees, betting activity fell. Complete iGaming reported that Illinois sports betting activity declined after the new wager tax, with 6.4 million fewer wagers placed in October than a year earlier. The Illinois case shows how tax design can change consumer behavior, especially when legal betting becomes more expensive than offshore or unregulated alternatives.
Michigan’s structure differs, but the broader implication is the same: Sports betting markets are sensitive to friction. Promotions, tax costs, fees and product pricing all influence where bettors place wagers and how much operators retain.
Legal uncertainty adds another competitive layer
Beyond state-by-state results, operators are watching the rise of prediction markets and sports event contracts. A New Jersey court fight involving Kalshi has drawn attention because it could affect whether some sports-linked products are treated as federally regulated financial swaps or state-regulated sports wagers.
Jefferies analyst David Katz argued that any resolution could benefit DraftKings and FanDuel because uncertainty is the worst outcome for incumbents. In Complete iGaming’s coverage of the New Jersey Kalshi trial analysis, Katz said established sportsbook operators have the scale, infrastructure and marketing efficiency to compete if the rules become clearer. The stakes are high because an uneven regulatory field could allow alternative platforms to offer sports-linked products without the same licensing, tax and compliance burdens faced by sportsbooks.
For Michigan, the issue is not immediate revenue but long-term market structure. The state’s online gambling framework depends on licensed operators generating taxable revenue under gaming rules. If sports event contracts expand outside that framework, traditional sportsbooks could face new competition for customers, while states could face questions over tax leakage and consumer protection.
That makes June’s Michigan results more than a monthly fluctuation. They show a market that is growing in consumer activity but increasingly complex for operators and regulators. Sports betting remains volatile, promotional spending can distort growth and iGaming remains the dependable revenue engine. The next phase will depend on whether operators can convert betting volume into sustainable profit while defending their position against new entrants, tax changes and products that test the boundaries of gambling law.
